Dangerous Liaison
by IdiAmeanDada
Summary: For seven years she has watched and loved him from afar. Now its time to make her move. What might be the consequenses of a single act?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - This is a mature fic for mature audiences only. It is rated M for a reason.**

**Here there be lemons.**

**You have been warned. **

* * *

-1-

It's two in the morning at the Hinata Sou, and all the residents but one are peacefully slumbering in dream land. In room 201, the lone restless soul tosses and turns on her futon. As she does, she draws a life size teddy bear in to an intimate embrace. Sweating profusely, she rubs up against it and moans. "Oh Keitaro…"

She wakes up with a gasp, staring into the eyes of the plush animal. Realizing the compromising situation she is in, she pushes it away and rolls on her back. The girl lets out a sigh as she sits up and brings her knees up to her chest, hugging them. The moonlight that is streaming in through her window glistens off of her and she shivers a little as the sweat that covers her body begins to evaporate from her hot skin.

Shinobu sobs silently. "Not again," she says to herself, recalling the contents of the dream she just had. It was a recurring dream she had been having off and on for many years, full of hunger, lust, and animalistic desire. Quite recently, the dreams had been occurring more frequently and had become more intense. There was only one explanation for it; he was home.

Her Sempai. Her Keitaro.

When they had first met, she was barely a teenager and he was in love with someone else. The seven year age difference was just too much to overcome back then. She remembered wishing so fervently to be a few years older. Maybe then he would have seen her as a woman, rather than a kid. She still pined for him, even though there was no chance. Eventually, she settled and made sure to be there to support him in all that he did. But even as she was there for him, he always found time to be there for her as well. Even though he was pursuing someone else, he helped her with encouragement and support in her quest to get in to Tokyo University.

_But what about now? _she asks herself before slamming the door shut on that train of thought. However, the door does not latch, and slides back open as a realization comes to her. _As people get older, the age differences don't matter as much._ She is nineteen now, he is almost twenty-six. Yeah, he has been married for a year now, but does that mean she should give up?

She winces as that thought comes to her. Naru has been a good friend as well over the years, but her violent tendencies towards Keitaro grated on every fiber of her being. Her Sempai was constantly on edge, as though he was walking on his tip-toes through a minefield. It has gotten better in the year since they tied the knot, but it was still far from what Shinobu would call an adult relationship.

_So, what can I do about it?_ she asks herself. She lays back down on her futon and puts her hands behind her head. Her thoughts drift back to the recurring dream. Her heartbeat quickens and her face flushes as she remembers the all too familiar contents. His hands exploring every inch of her bare skin. Her gasp as he enters her. Her moans of pleasure as he loves her and only her.

Suddenly breaking out of her reverie, she realizes that she has grabbed one of her teddy bears and was using it to rub herself. She looks at it briefly, noting the juices that were smeared on it where it had touched her, and throws it away in frustration. She was hot and wet, and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Or was there?

Getting up, she pulls down the t-shirt she is wearing and steps to the door, doing her best to slide out without making any noise. Padding down the hall, she pauses next to room 204. Reaching up, she lovingly caresses the 'Manager's Room' sign on it. So many possibilities. What would he do if she did walk in unannounced? Would he allow her to stay? Would he…..? Shinobu squints her eyes, purses her lips, and makes a decision.

She walks away.

Slowly at first, then her pace quickens to a run as she reaches half way down the stairs. To the kitchen she goes, straight to the sink. Quickly, she turns on the cold water and prepares douse her head in it. _What am I thinking?! He's married for crying out loud!_ She pulls back from the sink before dunking herself, and covers her eyes as she lets out a sob. Did it really mean that she could not have him? The practical and sane answer to that was yes. But when was love ever a practical and sane emotion?

Over the years, she passed on a number of would be suitors. In the past, she it was because she did not feel worthy of her attentions. Her insecurities always got in the way. But not now. She is a much stronger woman than that thirteen year old that first met the awkward and clumsy new manager. Confident and mature, a lot has changed since then. She realized last year that despite the fact that her Sempai seemed to be out of her reach, there was something she wants to give to him.

She realizes that her bid to rid herself of the hot feelings she is having in her chest and loins will not go away by dousing herself like this. It calls for something a little more drastic, and daring. She shuts off the water and leaves the kitchen, padding back up the stairs and stopping once again and room 204. Grabbing onto the door knob, she gently turns, and is thankful that the click she hears from it does not echo down the halls. Slowly she opens the door and slides in, quietly closing it behind her.

Tiptoeing over to the middle of the room, she looks up and smiles. It's still there, the hole that Keitaro and Naru used to communicate. She never did understand why he has not completely moved in to Naru's room, or vice-versa, but today she is thankful. It was quieter to go up through the hole than it was to try to go through the door. Grabbing a chair, she picks it up and moves it underneath the hole and stands on it. She reaches up and slowly slides the cover that is over it to the side, then grabs the edge and slowly pulls herself up.

Stopping half way, holding herself on the edge by her arms, she looks in to assess the situation. In front of her is the double sized futon that Keitaro and Naru are sharing. She is at the foot of the bed as she sees both the occupants' feet. Sempai's are on the left and sticking up in the air, indicating he is on his back. The brunette's are on the right and pointing towards the opposite wall from him because she is on her side facing away.

Satisfied that the duo is still asleep, Shinobu pulls herself the rest of the way up. She crawls over to Keitaro's side and sits up on her knees. Bringing her index finger up, she nervously nibbles on the fingernail. _It's still not too late to back out,_ she thinks to herself. The decision is made, though. Her rational mind may not recognize it, but her body is past the point of no return.

Looking down at the object of her desire, he is wearing only pajama bottoms, leaving his chest exposed. What little light that was filtering into the room seems to only shine on him, and in her eyes, gives him an almost angelic aura. His left arm is lying on his pillow above his head, while his right is straight out from him, having fallen off the futon. It was a rather inviting position. Shinobu has to resist the urge to cuddle up into the crux of his arm. That was not how he wanted to wake him.

The butterflies in her stomach begin to fly wildly as she pauses above him. She had discussed how to do this before with Kitsune, but had never actually done it before. She throws caution to the wind as her heart wins out over her mind again. Leaning forward, she ever so slightly puts her right hand on his leg, just above the knee. Getting no reaction, she smiles to herself. He was a heavy sleeper. She slowly begins to move it up and down. Still no reaction.

As she continues to rub, she becomes a little bolder, leaning forward and starting to rub his other leg with her left hand. As she does this, she finally gets a reaction, but not the one she wants. Naru shifts in her sleep, causing Shinobu's heart to jump into her throat. As the brunette settles back into whatever dream she was having, Shinobu lets out a small sigh of relief. This was a HUGE risk she was taking.

Small crisis averted, she continues her ministrations, slowly moving her hands between his legs and up closer to where they meet his thighs. She is rewarded by movement from underneath the crotch of his bottoms. Smiling at this small victory, she removes her left hand and allows her right to roam up, on top of the bulge that has now formed. Caressing is softly through the fabric, she feels it grow. As it does so, she can see that it is stuck in what could be an uncomfortable position. Turning her hand, she moves it slightly. When she does so, it seems to spring up and spill out of his fly in all its glory.

Shinobu jerks her hand back. It was one thing to touch it through the fabric. There was still some semblance of protection. But now it was fully exposed. She was not sure why she was having this reaction. Surely this is what she wanted. However, the fact that it was now out in the open gives her pause.

But only just for a moment. The fire of desire she feels in her chest wins out, causing her to reach down and gently take hold of the shaft, rubbing in lightly in her palm, feeling the veins that run just under the surface of the skin. A soft groan startles her for a second, until she realizes it came from Keitaro and not the brunette laying on the other side of the futon. Slowly she begins to lightly tug, up and down, causing another soft groan and a shift in one of his legs.

Smiling at how he is reacting, she gently pulls it out further, full exposing it. She then leans down and kisses it on the tip. A small jolt of electricity seems to jump from the head, exciting her. Next she slowly licks it, eliciting another groan from the man. Getting a satisfactory reaction, she starts to run her tongue around the edges. Noticing movement, she glances up with her eyes to see that his toes have curled back ever so slightly.

Relishing the feelings that are coming over her, she slowly lowers down around the head, taking it deep into her mouth. Recalling her discussions with the resident fox, she makes sure to curl her lips over her teeth to avoid contact. Inhaling slightly, she sucks the air out of her mouth, causing him to completely fill it. As she lifts her head back up, she hears a soft whimper escape his mouth. Yet there is still no other movement.

Emboldened, she begins to slowly bob her head up and down, relishing in not only the naughtiness of the act itself, but where she is doing it. She felt her wetness get hotter by the second, and she loses herself, allowing a lights slurping sound to echo in the room. Suddenly, she feels Keitaro shift underneath her and his legs bend up towards her. Instantly she is broken from her reverie as she realizes that he is now awake.

Having rehearsed what would happen at this instant in her mind, she breaks contact and quickly raises up. As her Sempai's head comes up, she reaches out and places a finger on his lips before he can say anything. She leans in to him and looks into his eyes lovingly. "Shhhh!" she hisses quietly. "You will wake Naru."

Keitaro's eyes bug out as he realizes the compromising situation he is in. Shinobu is counting on his fear of potential reprisal from his wife to override his instinct to yell and thrash in an attempt to get away. Naru would of course assume the worst of him first, and instantly punish him for this transgression before she could evaluate exactly where the fault lays. The blue haired girl is not disappointed as his eyes jerk over to the woman next to him, then back to her.

Shinobu removes the finger from his mouth. "What are you doing?" he whispers. She can hear the near panic in his voice.

"Please, sit back and relax," she replies quietly. Not giving him an opportunity to reply, she quickly moves and envelopes his still hard member in her soft lips. Keitaro lets out a gasp and tries for a moment to grab her, but she fends him off while slowly moving her head up and down the shaft. Quietly, she feels him relent as she continues. _Silence is acceptance,_ she thinks to herself, and she starts to pick up the pace.

Up and down she goes, the power over him she is feeling is intoxicating. As he relaxes further, she feels him start to moves his hips slightly in rhythm with herself. He lets out a soft whimper and she feels the head start to swell. The further she goes, the more excited he seems to get. He is not nearly as quiet as she would like, but there is nothing that can be done about it in this compromising situation. As she goes down a little further on him, she feels him start to tense up, and mentally prepares herself for what will come next. Suddenly, his entire body clenches and he inhales sharply as he fills her mouth with a sickly sweet and salty concoction.

Feeling the waves of his climax, she resists the urge to immediately spit, forcing herself to swallow instead while he was still within her mouth. As the throbbing subsides, she lifts off and uses her finger to wipe away a small amount that had seeped out of the corner of her lips. She then takes it into her right hand and caresses it softly, causing him to shudder slightly. She feels his right hand come up and rub her back and she lays down beside him, putting her head on his shoulder.

She looks up into his eyes and smiles at him. The look he returns is more of confusion. "Why?" he asks after a moment.

"Do I really need to tell you?" she asks in return. He looks like he is going to reply, but whatever it was is lost. She has told him a number of times what her feelings are for him, and his silence tells her that he understands.

They both lay in silence. She revels in the feeling of closeness she has with him right now. This may be the only time she ever gets a chance at something like this. He certainly would not willingly allow her to be this intimate with him if he were in complete control of his faculties.

As she continues to stroke him, it starts to respond her again, regaining the size it lost after his climax. She feels him move his left hand down and place it on her hand, getting ready to remove it. She shifts and brings herself up on her elbow and again looks into his eyes. "Please don't," she pleads with him. Shinobu's heart sinks a little as it looks like he is about to protest. Then his eyes soften as he looks at her lovingly. He brings the hand he was going to use to remove hers up and caresses her check.

If it had a voice, her heart would sing. After years of waiting, she realizes it's finally going to happen. Even though it will happen in a bed he shares with someone else, he was finally going to be hers, if only for one night. Her chest heaves in excitement as she feels his hips rise slightly as she pulls on the waist band of his bottoms to extricate his member from its confinement. That done, she leans up as she pushes them down slowly, caressing his legs as she goes.

Having removed the offending garment, she feels him shift towards her a little, making some additional space between himself and the other person who is still snoozing away next to them. She turns towards him and throws her leg over as he uses his right arm to pull her on top of him. Sitting in her position of power, straddling his hips, she smiles as his hands explore her body. Roaming up underneath her shirt, he cups her breasts and starts to massage them, paying particular attention to her now erect nipples. Jolts of electricity shoot through her body, and she curls her lips into her mouth in an attempt to keep from making any noise.

She leans in to him as his hands start to roam again, down to her hips and around to grasp either cheek of her ass. He pulls her up towards him, and then expertly clips the wings of her panties with his thumbs. She lifts herself off to allow him to slide them down, exposing her to him for the very first time. One foot in the air, then the other, and like that, they are gone.

She settles back down on him, feeling his member throbbing against her, as if begging to be let in. She hesitates for a moment, suddenly afraid of what will happen next.

"You don't have to do this," he whispers to her.

Even in such a compromising situation, he still finds a way to prove that he is thinking of her first. In Shinobu's eyes, that is his greatest attribute, and it fills her heart to overflowing. "No," she replies. "I made this decision a long time ago."

With that, she raises herself up and reaches down to grasp his shaft. She positions it correctly and then starts to lower herself onto it. As it enters, it feels like electric current is shooting up into her brain as the sensation threatens to overcome her. Lowering herself more, she starts to feel resistance. She was expecting this. Slowly she applies a little more pressure, causing it to become a little painful. Biting her lips, she starts to push further, but is stopped.

Keitaro pulls her up slightly, relieving her a little. "Go slow," he whispers.

Nodding, she again lowers herself, reaching the point where she was before. To her surprise, it does not hurt as much. Emboldened by this, she lowers herself even further. The pain returns, and she raises again until it subsides, then lowers again. Getting even further this time, she is rewarded with small snap. She sucks her breath in as the pain threatens to overtake her. Keitaro grabs her and pulls her to him, wrapping his arms around her. "It will subside in a second," he says in her ear.

A small tear escapes her eye as she grits her teeth. Lying on his chest she breathes heavily, trying to will it away. After a moment, it seems to obey. She experimentally rocks up and back on him, and to her delight, the pain is almost completely gone. The sensation in its place is indescribable to her. Another tear escapes her eyes, but this one is caused by the ecstasy of their intimate embrace rather than the pain of losing her virginity.

She leans up on him and looks into his eyes, reaching up and tracing the contours of his lips. "What was mine is now yours," she whispers, and then leans in a catches his lips in hers. As she kisses him, she slowly starts to rock back and forth, each wave sending a shockwave straight into her soul. The room, the futon, the brunette still lying beside them, all of it disappears in her mind. There is only her and her Sempai. Him giving her what she has desired since they met, and her giving him what he deserves.

Her heart begins to palpate as she increases the rhythm, causing Keitaro to gasp in pleasure. Snapping out of her trance, she slows and reaches forward, again placing a finger on his lips. She glances over to the sleeping Naru, then back to him and he nods in understanding.

Suddenly, the brunette shifts in her sleep, nearly sending the couple into a panic. Rolling towards him, the brunette turns onto her back. Keitaro and Shinobu freeze, waiting for the imminent explosion. But it fails to materialize as Naru moans lightly and settles into her new position. Both of the lovers let out the breathes they had been holding.

Shinobu lifts herself off of him, and then slowly turns herself until she is facing his feet. Standing on her tiptoes, she squats down on top of him again, allowing him to completely fill her. Placing her hands on his thighs, she steadies herself and she starts to bounce up and down, causing wave after wave of pleasure to crash in to her. She feels powerful. She feels in control. She can now set the pace and she does so with zeal, thankful that the futon on the floor does not transfer motion like a regular bed would. Faster and deeper she goes, she can feel her juices flowing down over him. From behind, she feels Keitaro massage the checks of her ass, then move his hands underneath to assist her bouncing.

As she continues, she can feel the warmth begin to build up inside over her. Gasping and panting, she quickens the pace even more, looking to get every last morsel out of him. This may be the one and only time she will get to do this, so she must not waste this opportunity. Faster and faster, she feels a pressure build up inside her, building inside of her, approaching a peak. Almost losing herself, she rolls up her t-shirt, sticks it in her mouth and bites down. She so wants to scream in pleasure as her release nears, but she knows she cannot.

Suddenly, her whole body tenses as the wave crashes down on top of her. Contractions from her womb roll over his shaft and her juices start to gush out. She jerks her head back then forward, almost losing her balance. Leaning forward as the waves subside, she releases the t-shirt from her mouth and the breath she so desperately kept, lest the sound of her ecstasy escape.

She finally relaxes and leans back, putting her hands down on the futon on either side of her lover, careful to maintain their connection. _Oh my god!_ she screams in her mind. She had no idea it would be like this. Breathing in and slowly letting out, her breath shudders as it escapes. She twists slightly and turns to look over her shoulder at her Sempai, to thank him. What she sees nearly causes her to bolt from the room.

She had completely lost track of everything as she made love to Keitaro. During that time, Naru had once again shifted towards him, throwing her arm over his chest. When Shinobu leaned back, she had missed putting her hand on Naru's arm by mere millimeters. She freezes for a second, not daring to move. Keitaro has a look of absolute dread on his face.

After a moment of terror, she realizes that Naru is still sound asleep and completely oblivious to what is going on. Keitaro relaxes as well. He motions with his head to his right, and then starts to turn. As he does so, Shinobu goes with him. During the turn, Naru's hand slips off of him, much to her relief.

Much to Shinobu's surprise, Keitaro is still in her as they complete the turn. Now spooning against each other with her head resting on his right arm, she reaches back and grabs his head. Pulling him to her, she looks into his eyes and smiles, then draws him into a passionate kiss as she starts to rock against him again. He responds in kind, thrusting back against her ever so slightly so as to not disturb the sleeping form behind him who was now snuggling into his back.

Keitaro buries his face into her dark blue hair and she leans forward to get a better angle. She can feel him desperately trying to hold in his moans and keep his breathing steady. As the electricity between them builds again, he bends his right arm in to her, pulling her back towards him. She arches her back to maintain their connection as his left hand reaches around and explores her chest. He grabs hold and pinches one of her nipples, sending an electric jolt into her.

Biting back a gasp, she grabs his hand in hers and intertwines her fingers into his. She squeezes his hand, and he squeezes back, giving themselves something to focus on besides screaming for joy. As they move against each other, she feels him start to fill her completely. She can feel his panting against her back quicken as he continues to move against her, harder and faster now, no longer seeming to care if he wakes anyone. She is almost to that point as well. She wants to scream and wake everyone in the entire building to let them know what she is doing. In this instant, she is his, and he is hers, and nothing can take that away.

Her pleasure becomes his pleasure as the familiar build up starts again. As it does, she can feel him inside her, growing ever so slightly. He starts thrusting even harder as she rocks into him faster. As she reaches her peak, she feels him grunt in pleasure. As she crashes over, he pulls her closer to him with both arms, deepening their pleasure. She gasps as she feels him thrust deep into her and spasm. As her juices gush forth, she feels him gasp and shudder as he empties himself into her womb. She whimpers in pleasure and he gasps for air. Silently, she screams in her head, giving thought to what she so desperately wants to verbalize.

As the waves of pleasure subside once again, she feels a sense of calm overtake her. As he slips out of her, she turns to him and embraces him, nuzzling up underneath his chin. He strokes her back as they bask in the afterglow of their coupling. A soft sob escapes her lips, and he gently pushes her away and looks into her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asks in a whisper.

She sniffs lightly. "I have never been happier than I am here and now," she replies. "I wish this could last forever."

As if on cue, an arm snakes around Keitaro from behind him. Shinobu pushes away just in time before it touches her. His terrified eyes dart between it and the woman he had just made love to. She smiles at him as she fully disengages and gets up on her hands and knees. Crawling over to him, she puts her finger on his mouth. "No regrets," she says, and reaches in and kisses him on the forehead.

Picking up her clothes, she quietly glides back to the hole in the floor and slips through it. Sliding the cover back over it as she goes, she leaves her love behind. Careful to place the chair back into its original position, she quietly exits the room and returns to her own. Laying back down on her futon, she makes a pact with herself to always cherish the memory of the experience she just shared with her Sempai.

A smile plastered to her lips, she silently drifts off to sleep with on thought on her mind.

_Dreams really do come true._


	2. Chapter 2

**This is rated M for a reason.  
****Here there be lemons.  
Also, Naru haters will be disappointed.  
****You have been warned. **

-2-

Clicking on a small reading lamp at the head of the futon he shares with his wife, Keitaro blinks as if he were staring directly into the sun. The sudden illumination in the dark room makes it seem much brighter than it actually is. Worriedly, he looks over to Naru and finds that she is still sound asleep. Just after Shinobu had left, she had rolled onto her back and is now snoring ever so softly. _I'm lucky she's a heavy sleeper._

Flopping back down onto his pillow, he shakes his head, disgusted with himself for losing control like that. Some would completely understand. The blue haired girl has become quite the catch as she aged, the stuff of fantasies. He admittedly had "those thoughts" about her on occasion. What man, married or otherwise wouldn't!

But that was the catch. The ring on his left hand told him that things like that were ok in the realm of his imagination, and nowhere else. Regardless of who initiated it, in his mind he was ultimately responsible for the betrayal that happened. The question now is what to do about it. The options were understandably limited. He could tell her, but then not only did he fear for his own safety, he would worry about Shinobu's as well. While Naru's penchant for sending him flying had died down considerably in the past couple of years, her fiery temper has not. He couldn't really risk her reverting to her old ways, and he certainly didn't want her to start targeting the diminutive cook as well.

But then again, not telling her had its own unique set of consequences. The most obvious of which begged the question: could he keep a secret like this? It was already eating at him a little. How was it going to be six, nine, twelve months from now? What about five years? And regret. The last thing she said to him stuck in his mind. _No regrets._ When it came to loving her, he decided he would never regret his feelings. But he _would_ regret betraying his wife, whom he loves with all his heart.

Keitaro looks over at his spouse once again. He smiles, noticing how the night shirt she was wearing hugged her across the chest, leaving nothing to the imagination. He glances down, seeing that the panties she is wearing cover next to nothing. _Tell her and save myself from a lifetime of torment, or keep the secret and keep Shinobu safe. _It was a hard choice. But only one was truly in his nature. His decision made, he leans over to Naru.

XXX

An alarm clock goes off and a delicate hand reaches out and swipes at it, shutting it down for the day. The owner of the appendage sits up and yawns, stretching her arms up over her head. Looking around, Shinobu feels oddly refreshed despite a lack of sleep. What a night it had been. The encounter with Keitaro was already replaying itself in her head. She feels herself start to heat up as she relives the moment. Absent mindedly, she grabs her clothes and bath supplies and heads to the shower. After cleaning up, she dries herself off, gets dressed, and heads down to the kitchen after taking a few extra minutes to 'take care of some things',

When she arrives, diminutive cook effectively goes on autopilot. While her hands are mixing and stirring and concocting various breakfast treats for the Hinata Suo residents, her mind again drifts off to more naughty thoughts. She picks up a banana and gets ready to prepare if for Koalla Su, but gets distracted by the feel of it. Images come to her mind of a certain part of Keitaro's anatomy that she had so lovingly serviced just hours before. As she stands there caressing the fruit thoughtfully, caught between her culinary and erotic thoughts, she fails to notice someone step into the kitchen and sit down.

"Good morning, Shinobu"

The cook nearly comes out of her skin. "Good morning, Keitaro!" she screams before she turns around and sees it is actually not the object of her desires. "…..um…..I mean Kitsune!"

Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno opens one of her fox like eyes and gives a critical look to the diminutive cook as she sits down. Shinobu glances at the clock, then places a plate of pancakes in front of the brown haired woman. "You're running a little late this morning?" she asks, trying to distract the woman from her earlier outburst.

Ignoring her food, the teahouse manager continues to watch with a knowing eye. "Something is different about you this morning."

"Not sure what you mean," replies Shinobu as she still maintains some hopes that her Freudian slip had gone unnoticed.

"There is, I'll think of it here in a bit."

The blue haired cook smiles, then turns and throws herself back into her work. Kitsune's presence helps Shinobu focus at first. But as she becomes more absorbed in it, she forgets the woman is there. Her thoughts drift again to Keitaro, and as they do, she starts to hum.

She is broken out of her reverie by the sound of someone snapping their fingers. "You hooked up!" cries Kitsune, both of her eyes now completely wide open in shock.

"Wha…? No I didn't!" lies Shinobu. Her face turning three shades of red betrays the real answer.

"You hooked up," repeats the fox with a smug, satisfied look on her face. She leans forward and puts her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. "So, who's the lucky guy?"

The petite cook sighs in defeat. "I can't tell you."

"Ah, it's one of those!" replies Kitsune knowingly. She smiles mischievously and leans in towards Shinobu. "Are you a mistress in an affair?" she asks conspiratorially.

Shinobu can only stare open mouthed at the woman, trying to ponder how the resident fox might have figured that out. "How did….."

"I do now!" replies the brunette, crossing her arms across her chest in triumph.

Shinobu clams up and turns back to her work, chiding herself for being so transparent and gullible. Desperately, she hopes that ignoring the pest will cause it to go away.

No such luck. "So let's see," says Kitsune and she tries to work it out in her head. "It obviously happened last night, and you didn't go anywhere." She peers into the back of Shinobu's head, cracking open one eye as she runs scenarios through her mind. "So you snuck a boyfriend in last night, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah, that's it!" replies the blue haired cook over her shoulder without turning around.

The tea house manager smiles. "Liar, your mouth says yes, but your body says no."

"But…."

Kitsune looks off in the distance as she continues to try to put the puzzle together, rubbing her chin absentmindedly. "Hmm, so that leaves….." Suddenly, both her eyes go wide and she fixes Shinobu with a surprised stare. "Oh! My! Gawd!"

"What?" replies the cook innocently, hoping that the brunette's train of thought had somehow derailed.

"You and Keitaro!"

Shinobu gasps and covers her mouth as she turns to face her accuser, inadvertently confirming the brunette's suspicions. A moment of silence comes between the two, marking the passing of Kitsune's image of a pure and naive resident of room 201.

"Holy shit, I'm going to kill him for cheating on Naru like that!" exclaims the fox-woman and she turns to march out.

Shinobu quickly comes around and grabs hold of the exiting woman. "It's not what you think!" she pleads.

"Oh really?" Kitsune replies as she turns back around and puts her fists on her hips. "So he didn't come to your room last night, get you drunk on sake, ravage you like an animal, and make you feel like a real woman for the first time?"

Shinobu falters for a second as she processes what had just been said to her. "That's your fantasy, Kitsune," she replies finally. "Not mine."

"So, what happened?!" exclaims the brunette and she ushers the blue haired cook back into the kitchen. She sits the smaller woman down at the table and looks at her with two wide open eyes. "I need details!"

Shinobu sighs heavily before she starts. "I couldn't help myself," she starts to say. "I snuck into their room last night, and… well… I pretty much didn't give him a choice in the matter."

"And you did it?"

"Yes," she replies, a smile forming on her lips as she once again recalls the incident.

Kitsune frowns a little because something was not adding up. "In their room?"

"That's what I said," comes the absentminded reply.

"And where was Naru during all this?"

"Asleep next to us," confirms Shinobu as she snaps out of her daydream.

Kitsune blinks and stares as the realization of it all comes to her. _Damn Naru and her heavy sleeping!_ There is an awkward silence between the pair as the brunette digests the story. Finally, all she can do is shake her head. "Part of me wants to kill you, but at the same time I'm like 'Damn, why didn't I think of that'!

Shinobu reaches forward and grabs the brunette's hands in her own and looks at her with pleading eyes. "I have no regrets nor will I apologize for this, but you have _GOT_ to keep this a secret!"

Before Kitsune can respond, both women are startled to hear someone yawn behind them. To their surprise, Naru Urashima shuffles past them and without a word, sits down in her normal spot. The brown dress she is wearing is slightly wrinkled, and her normally immaculate hair is disheveled, the two antennas barely standing up. Without preamble, Shinobu steps around the table, grabs a cup and fills it with coffee, then puts it in front of the new arrival. Naru picks up a spoon and starts stirring the liquid without even acknowledging those around her. The fox and cook can only stare as she moves the spoon back and forth, lost in whatever world she has traveled to.

Shinobu fidgets, worrying about how much of the conversation she was having was overheard. Naru starts to sip at her coffee in silence, further unnerving the resident cook. She steps away to retrieve a plate

"Naru, are you alright?" asks Kitsune finally. Naru does not respond. Her eyes are glassed over as she appears to be deep in thought. "Earth to Naru?" says the teahouse manager as she waves a hand in front of the spacey woman, who finally blinks back to the here and now and looks at her.

"Wha…? Oh, sorry, a little distracted this morning."

"No shit," quips Kitsune with a smile. "Care to talk about it?"

"Nope."

Neither brunette notices it, but Shinobu has turned white as a sheet. _Does she know? Surely she would have said something to me if she did? Or is she waiting for something, like tonight when I am asleep?_ Shinobu herself spaces out as these and a number of other questions run through her mind. So distracted is she that she fails to notice another resident's arrival.

"Good morning," announces a tall woman with long black hair. She is wearing a light blue business suit with a white blouse.

"I'M SORRY!" blurts out Shinobu, causing Kitsune and the new arrival, Motoko Aoyama, to pause and stare at her. The bluenette quickly covers her mouth with both hands.

"Someone's got a guilty conscience," comments Kitsune with a smile.

Motoko frowns and looks at the source of the outburst. "I wonder what it could be?" she asks, almost too politely.

Shinobu looks to Kitsune, who has an almost evil smile on her face, and nearly faints with worry. She sure looked like she was going to let the cat out of the bag. The cook's eyes plead with the fox woman not to. The light brunette smirks back at the blue haired woman and then looks to Motoko. "I don't know, she won't tell me."

Internally, Shinobu lets out a sigh of relief. Motoko looks at her as if trying to read whatever it was off her body. "Your aura is quite confusing this morning, that's for sure," she says of the petite cook and a few moments. "I suppose you will tell us in due time."

"Would you like some breakfast?" asks Shinobu.

"Mmm, no thanks, I have an appointment with my publisher early this morning," replies the black haired woman. "She seems to think that my second book should be done already. That woman just does not understand that inspiration does not grow on trees." She glances around the room and frowns. "Where is Keitaro? He didn't come out to spar this morning."

Naru, who has been oblivious to the entire goings on around her, looks up at Motoko. "He's still in bed, he's very tired this morning."

"Is he sick?" asks the author.

Naru just shakes her head. "Nope."

"Did something happen?" asks Shinobu as innocently as possible, trying to probe the woman to see what she knew.

Naru just glances to the blue haired cook and lets out a long sigh. "You can say that," she says and then goes back to sipping her coffee.

Motoko stops up short. Her eyes glaze over for a second, then refocus. "Mmmmm, wish I was there," she says knowingly.

As the same time, Shinobu's stomach is doing backflips. _Does she know? How could she know? She was asleep! I heard her snoring! _Her eyes grow large then as she realizes that she, in fact, did not actually hear Naru make any noise at all. In fact, a couple of times, she seemed to snuggle up to Keitaro at some of the most inopportune times.

As Shinobu ponders this, Keitaro's wife looks at her watch and then jumps up from her chair. "Dammit, I'm going to be late for the train!" she exclaims and rushes into the lobby area, showing the first bit of life since she had come down the morning. The other three women follow her.

"Um, Nara?" calls out Kitsune. "Do you really think you should be rushing off looking like _that_?"

Naru pauses and looks into a mirror that is next to the front door and frowns at what she sees. In Shinobu's eyes, the antennae haired woman is staring daggers back at her through her reflection. "Damn that man," she mutters to herself as she tries to fix her antennas in vain. After a few moments of futility, she hurries out the door. Motoko follows along with Kitsune, leaving the bluenette to her thoughts and fears.

A few moments later, Koalla Su enters the lobby on her way to kitchen. The bronze skinned woman stops and pushes back a stray stand of her blonde hair. She looks at the blue haired cook and smiles. "What's for breakfast, I'm starved!"

Unable to handle the strain, Shinobu screams and rushes out to the kitchen, nearly knocking over Ema Maeda and her pet chameleon Leon in the process. As the sixteen year old regains her composure, she gives Su a questioning look. "What's up with Shinobu?"

"Don't know," replies the Mol Mol princess as she enters the kitchen and sites down. She pulls a plate of fruit that is sitting in the middle of the table to her, picks up a piece, and offers it to the girl. "Banana?"

XXX

Naru thanks her lucky stars for two things. The first is that she was able to find a seat on the train instead of having to stand and run the pervert gauntlet. The second was that Motoko was going in the opposite direction. She did not want to sit and answer any more uncomfortable questions about what had happened to cause her to be in such a daze this morning. There were going to be enough questions from her students about why she looked like shit today. Fortunately, seven and eight year olds would probably accept at face value that Mrs. Urashima just overslept a little this morning.

"Damn that man," she mutters to herself again. It is most definitely his fault for this. As the train rumbles along, she leans her head against the glass, letting her thoughts drift back to couple of hours earlier.

…**Flashback**…

Without opening her eyes, Naru stretches her arms out, not necessarily wanting to wake up. As she does, her dream begins to fade. The sensations she is feeling do not, though. Many times, her dreams would incorporate things happening to her and the world around her seamlessly into whatever script was running. One particularly embarrassing time, she woke up late for school because at some point, she completely destroyed her alarm clock when it went off.

Usually, whatever sensations that came to her dissipated when she woke up. Not this time. The waves of feeling come crashing up from her nether regions, causing her to gasp and reach down to see what was going on. Before her hands get there, they run into what felt like a ball of fur before something takes hold of her wrists and pushes them back. Finally getting her eyes open, she sits up on her elbows to survey the scene.

"What in the….." Naru starts, but stops as her brain catches up with what is going on. The ball of fur she felt before was her husband's head, and he is happily lapping away at her womanhood, having slid her panties to the side. As a wave of ecstasy rolls through her, her eyes roll back into her head as she falls back onto her pillow. "Oh my god!" she exclaims.

Based on her level of stimulation, and the wetness that was already flowing, he has apparently been there a while. Keitaro releases her wrists and places his hands on her stomach, slowly moving them up under her night shirt until they find her breasts, which were already slightly swollen. As he began to caress them, his index fingers find her erect nipples and started to circle them, causing them to tighten further. She moans and shifts up slightly, resting on her left arm while she reaches down and caresses his scalp with her right hand. "What brought this on?" she asks through her heavy breathing, having reached a low point in the ebb and flow of her arousal.

He does not answer, and she throws her head back and moans loudly as his tongue starts making a circling motion around the folds of her slit. He was teasing it out of her, ever so slowly. As the feelings start to intensify again, she grabs hold of his hair. "If you're going to do it, do it right!" she commands through clenched teeth, taking control of the situation. He obliges her, taking one of his hands and putting his fingers on either side of her clit and pulls the folds out of the way. Immediately, he hits it with is tongue, sending a wave of heat surging up her body.

"Oh my god!" she exclaims as she falls back onto the futon and grabs hold of his head with her other free hand, forcing him down harder onto her. As she does this, Keitaro removes the remaining hand that was still caressing her nipple. At first she does not care where it goes as the sensations she is feeling overwhelm her. As she moans louder, Naru feels two fingers at her opening, as if they were asking for permission to enter. "Oh yes, stick them in me," she purrs.

Electricity seems to bounce around in her body as he slides them in, then tips them up to find that little rough patch just on the inside. Involuntarily, Naru convulses against him as he starts to rub against it. She lets out a shrill shriek as Keitaro's tongue continues to work its magic while his fingers start to do their walking. She sucks in her breath as she starts to feel herself starting the run up to the peak.

Shifting her legs around, Naru wraps them around his head and digs her heels into his back. A soft moan escapes his lips as she tightens her grip on him. "You'd better not stop," she commands as she feels it continue to build. Her clit now fully erect, his fingers going in and out, hitting that perfect spot, she arches her back and clenches herself as she reaches the tipping point.

"Oh my god, Keitaro! You're making me cum!" she screams as she tenses up, then releases as the muscles contractions start. With each spasm, her entire body shudders, the sensations from his tongue hitting her increasing a hundred fold.

Many women have unique reactions when they reach this point. As Keitaro continues to lap at her and her vagina spasms against his still thrusting fingers, Naru begins to laugh uncontrollably. Now on sensory overload, she pushes him away and falls back, unable to catch her breath, the hysteria subsiding to involuntary giggling. As she lays there gasping and trying to get control, she feels him hit the pillow next to her. She immediately rolls to him and crashes her lips to his, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He returns the gesture as he reaches up and encircles her in his arms. Frantically, they work at each other, Naru enjoying the taste of herself intermingling with his saliva. With her free hand, she slips off the panties she is still wearing.

As they continue, she reaches down and takes hold of his manhood and starts to gently tug on it. She finds herself mildly surprised that he is not wearing his pajamas, but pays it no mind as she pulls back from him, looking into his brown eyes. "You want me to suck it?" she purrs.

Naru feels his hand on the side of her head. "Does this answer your question?" he asks as he pushes her down towards his throbbing erection. Immediately, she takes it into her mouth and starts to run her tongue around the tip. It was his turn now. She smiles as he lets out a gasp, his head flopping down on the pillow.

Naru curls up slightly to make herself more comfortable, throwing her right arm over and resting on his pelvis. With that hand, she grasps the base of his manhood and strokes it as she starts to bob her head up and down. She didn't have the ability to take it all the way, but it was enough for him to shudder underneath her. While getting in to the rhythm of her stoke, Naru adds a slight twist of her head, increasing the friction and causing him to moan loudly. Keitaro was generally quiet when they made love, so his wife takes it as a small victory to get such a reaction.

A loud slurping sound begins to echo throughout the couple's room as she continues to work her magic on her husband. Underneath her, Keitaro begins to tense up as Naru begins to change things up. Sometimes she would stroke him with her hand in synch with her head movements, other times against. He reaches up and grabs her shoulder, not to pull her off, more for support. Naru can tell he is starting to get close, so she increases the suction and quickens the pace, causing him to squeeze her arm tightly.

As he begins to tense, she feels him swell even more in her mouth. A sweet and salty taste assaults her senses as some of his semen leaks out the top, telling her it was almost time. Keitaro draws in his knees and arches his back slightly as he nears his climax. When he does this, Naru stops bobbing her head and holds the tip in her mouth, only using her hand to vigorously stroke the entire length of his member. His entire body shudders and he gasps out loud as he fills her mouth with milky white goo. She obediently swallows as fast as it comes out.

Continuing to stroke, Naru feels the contractions subside, and she releases him. Keitaro begins to relax and she lays her head on his pelvis and watches as her hand continues to stimulate him. The tip was ultra-sensitive right now, so she avoids it. After a moment, she rolls up on to her knees and glances down at him. When their eyes meet, she uses the thumb on her free hand to wipe a small amount of his juices that had seeped out, and seductively licks it off.

Without taking her hand off his erection, she hikes a leg over him and straddles his hips. Naru then leans up and forward. "I want to fuck you," she whispers into his ear as she guides him into her. The connection made, she leans back and gasps as he fully enters her, holding for a second to savor the sensation of their union. One of the great things about Keitaro Urashima is that along with his near immortality comes his ability to recover quickly from almost anything. This, of course, is no exception.

Naru begins to slowly rock back and forth, swiveling her hips as she does so, causing Keitaro to buck and gasp underneath her. Her lover is obviously still quite sensitive from his previous release. Leaning back while maintaining her motions, she takes this opportunity to remove her nightshirt. Now fully naked, she tosses it aside and slides her hands up and over her breasts, playing with her nipples as she leans back and enjoys the sensations her slow movements are creating inside her.

Beneath her, she feels Keitaro relax as he finally comes down from his previous high. A sly smile crosses her lips as she looks down at him. "You like what you see?" she purrs sensually at him, his only response is to nod.

It is time to take it up a notch.

Leaning forward, Naru puts both of her hands on the futon next to Keitaro. Looking into his brown eyes, she starts to put more effort into her movements, picking up the pace considerably. The brown haired girl begins to moan loudly as her more silent partner starts caressing her thighs, back, and ass. The slapping of her hips against his begins to echo loudly as she vigorously moves against him.

Normally, Keitaro would match her stroke or even take over at times from his position underneath. A small part of Naru was puzzled by the fact that he is not. However, a much, much larger portion loves the control that she was being given by him. For his part, he had thrust his hips up, allowing for deeper penetration. The brown haired woman bends her elbows to bring herself closer to her lover. "You like the way I fuck you?" she growls between moans, glaring at him and daring him to say no.

Keitaro's response is to lean up and smash his lips into hers, his tongue plowing through her defenses before she can respond. This surprise attack spurs her on faster as she responds in kind. Her thighs are beginning to burn from the fatigue that is setting in from her exertions, but she ignores it as another fire is being stoked in her belly. After about a minute of hammering at each other's tonsils, she lifts up and throws her head back and screams. "Oh god, YES!" Reaching back, she cups his balls in her hand and starts fingering them.

Her husband begins to pant. The small part of Naru that was still kind-of paying attention to her surroundings recognizes the sounds coming from her lover, and rings an alarm. She snaps her head down and glares at the man below her. "You better not fucking cum!" she half screams at him. That small awareness in her is shocked at her for saying that. The rest of her politely thanks it for the warning, then tells it to shut the hell up. Keitaro, for his part, is able to shake his head no, indicating that her frenzied ministrations could safely continue. _False alarm._ Naru can tell that he is enjoying this much more than usual, as is she.

As her body starts to make the last climb, she gasps and screams. "Here it comes!" The fire in her belly spreads throughout her person as it gets closer and closer to her special time. As Naru leans forward to get into a better angle, she is surprised when Keitaro acts. In a single motion, he bends his knees up and starts to match her motion. At the same time, he pulls her knees forward and then grabs her ass, forcing her to go faster and deeper then she has ever since they started. An explosion goes off in her head as her arousal nearly overwhelms her.

"I'M CUMMING!" she screams loudly as she immediately hits her peak. There was no slow ascent this time, it is sudden, abrupt, and intense. The contractions from her vagina spread, causing involuntary spasms throughout her body. Naru jerks her head from side to side, as she fights through the last of it, then drops down on top him, letting out the breath she had been holding.

As Naru struggles to control her respirations, Keitaro lets go of her butt and relaxes his legs, allowing her to set the pace again. He slides his hands up caresses her lower back, then begins to dig his fingers in between her vertebrae and walk his way up her spine. She moans loudly as he does this, as it had the added affect of helping her to relax after such an intense orgasm. It wasn't the first time he had done this, but it seems like he is being much more generous with his massaging than he normally is. Not that she is going to complain about that.

Suddenly, Keitaro shifts underneath her and wraps his arms around her. "Eeep!" is all she can get out as he rolls with Naru to the other side of the futon, successfully making the turn without disengaging himself. She gasps a bit as he pushes his entire length into her. Looking into his eyes, there is an intensity there that she rarely sees in him. _Where the hell did that come from?_

Naru bites her lip and suppresses a squeak as he bears down on her. She rolls her legs up, pivoting her hips to give him better access. Pressing in, the top of his pelvis presses against her clit, causing her to shudder with delight. Slowly, he starts to move, not in and out, but rocking back and forth. His member taps against that magic spot inside her when he does this, while at the same time, the bone of his hip stimulates her from the outside.

"o-o-OH MY GOD!" she wails as he quickens the pace. She finds herself soaring to new heights as he works on her from above. Naru didn't think it was possible, but she almost instantly feels her body approaching another climax. The rocking motion quickens, intensifying the sensations even more. The brown haired woman slides her hands up and under her lover's arms and reaches for his shoulders. She pulls him in as the spasms start again with a flourish, intense and satisfying. Her whole body convulses underneath him, and she involuntarily digs her nails into the skin over his shoulder blades.

Keitaro slows to crawl as Naru comes down off her second high in just the last few minutes. She looks up and finds his face scrunched up in pain, causing her to unclench her hands. "Sorry about that," she says sheepishly after finally leveling her breathing.

Her lover simply smiles back at her. "You're going to pay for that," he replies in a teasing tone.

Naru's eye twitches slightly as she wonders to herself what he means by that. As if to answer her, Keitaro leans up and grabs hold of her legs, then pushes them forward to where her knees were almost in the armpits. Almost folded in half, she glares up at him for a moment, then lets out a loud yelp as he nearly removes himself from her, then slams it back in. He does this a number of times in succession, Naru losing count after four or five. Each time his hips come down, a loud thwap noise can be heard.

With her legs still hiked up, Keitaro leans back and starts to push in and out at a more frantic pace than she could put in when she was on top. At the angle he has her hips at, the tip of his member is drawing back and forth across that special spot, causing Naru's mind to fault with the amount of stimulation it was receiving. Every breath comes out as a loud moan.

What he was doing before was soft and sensual. This was hard, frantic, and animalistic. They had been intimate since shortly after his grandmother revealed that she was indeed his promise girl from when he was five. In all that time, they had experienced nearly every nook and cranny of each other's bodies. But this was different, more intense than anything she has ever felt. "Oh my god, you've never fucked me like this before!" she screams in ecstasy.

He starts to pant and Naru can tell this is no false alarm. This time it is going to happen, and she's ready. She starts to rock her body in rhythm with his, further intensifying the sensations for both. Naru feels him swell even larger as it gets closer. His breathing accelerates to near hyperventilation as he nears his own release. Incredibly, Keitaro quickens the pace even more, causing her to quickly start her own climb to that promised land. She reaches up and grabs his sweat drenched hair and pulls it down so she can look into his eyes. "Cum with me baby!" she cries, then screams as with one final thrust, they both climax together, her drowning out any noises that he is making.

…**End Flashback**…

Naru is broken out of her reverie by the announcement of the next train stop. Groggily, she glances around. A number of the men are staring at her, jaws slack. When they realize she is looking back at them, they all in unison look away while bringing their fists to their mouths and letting out small coughs. The women on the other hand, are all staring away in any direction but hers.

She pays this no heed as she looks up at the map on the wall across from her and facefaults. She's missed her stop by one! Growling to herself, she stands and starts to make her way to the door. She would need to grab a train going the other way, which meant she would have to exit the platform, walk around to the other side, and pay to re-enter the station.

When she gets to the exit, it barely registers with her that the other passengers seem to have been making way for her. "What a cluster fuck," she mutters under her breath as the train comes to a stop. The man behind her coughs loudly. The train door finally opens and she exits, heading straight to the stairs that would lead her off the platform.

"Miss!"

Naru freezes and turns to see am elderly lady in a grey dress making her way towards her, waving her hand. It is then that she realizes that she left her purse on the train. The woman was holding the missing article in her other hand as she approached.

"Thank you so much!" cries Naru as she closes the gap between them, then bows in respect.

The old lady giggles. "It's not a problem!" she says as she hands the bag to Naru. She then winks at her. "You must have a _really_ good man!" With that, she turns and starts off in the opposite direction, whistling as she goes.

The antennae haired woman freezes in shock as she realizes something, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson. She must have fallen asleep and vocalized the whole thing! Now everyone knew about what happened last night. She was not going to be able to ride the train for a while with that hanging over her. Naru's thoughts turn to her husband and his impromptu and quite spirited performance last night, and her left eye twitches.

"He's going to pay for this," she says out loud as a mischievous smile crosses her lips. "Tonight."

* * *

A/N: Alright Naru Haters, let me hear it! One of the biggest questions from CH1 was probably 'does she know?' The resounding answer is NO! She was, in fact, asleep the entire time. Keitaro, being the guy that he is, makes up for his transgression. Does that mean this is over? Well, its not marked Complete (yet). I have an idea on where to go with this. An actual story instead of Lemon after Lemon. Will I finish this? Well, this is as far as I originally planned to go in the first place. We will see what happens. If I do decide to keep going, you will see the status in my profile. Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

The sunlight shines in through the window of the room he shares with his wife at full intensity. Keitaro opens his eyes and immediately starts to squint at the brightness as his irises try to adjust. Letting out a light groan, he stretches his arms and legs out as he rolls from his side onto his back, then takes a quick glance at the alarm clock. It's a quarter past ten. With a sigh, the weary man stares up at the ceiling for a moment before he sits up, then stands.

Quickly, he grabs his glasses and finds the pajama bottoms that had been discarded before the previous night's activities and slips them on. Keitaro then proceeds out the door, quickly making his way to the bathroom. After relieving the pressure in his bladder, he stands in front of the mirror and appraises himself. His poor, abused manhood is hanging limply out of his fly, looking quite pathetic. There is a dull ache and tingling sensation in his balls, which he concludes is due to the number of times he had came last night since the marathon sex sessions with the two women began. While his recovery ability is high, it still doesn't stop him from feeling the effects later.

After a moment, he decides that a dip in the hot springs would sooth his aching genitals, so he grabs hold of the doorknob and opens the door. As he steps out, he looks up and freezes. Standing at the other end of the hall with a basket of laundry in her hands is, perhaps, the first and also last person he wants to see today. Shinobu's face blushes a deep crimson and at first, Keitaro thinks it's due to the previous night's activities. It was her first time, so such reactions are normal. However, when he notices the blue haired beauty's eyes fall down his body after initially locking into his own, it dawns on the dark haired man what the real reason for the woman's blush is.

"Oh my god!" screams Keitaro as he covers his still exposed organ with one of his hands. He takes a step backwards and slams the bathroom door with the other, then turns and presses his back against it, sliding down into a sitting position. Absently, he wonders why she is still here, didn't she have school? "I'm so sorry, Shinobu!"

He hears a light giggle from the other side of the door. "That's ok, it's not like I haven't seen it before or anything now."

_Well, I guess that's true, especially after..._ Keitaro lets out a sigh. His image of the skittish, naïve little girl was pretty much completely blown after last night. Even though she was a virgin, she displayed a level of talent that belied her supposed inexperience. Absently, he wondered where she might have acquired such skills, but then remembered that Shinobu was pre-reading the novel that Motoko finished a couple of months ago. He heard that it was a rather saucy romance novel involving, of all things, a sword maiden. He resolves that he will have a look at the book, when the girls aren't looking of course.

From the other side of the door, he hears the blue haired woman sigh a bit. "You don't regret last night, do you? I told you not to."

Did he? It is such a loaded question. Deep down, he knows that he should. What they did is the ultimate betrayal of his Promise Girl and the vows they share. In the end, he decides he doesn't. "Shinobu," he began. "I don't regret what happened in the least. I don't think I can regret anything that happens between us. But that doesn't mean that I won't feel guilty about it."

Shifting up to his knees, Keitaro turns and cracks the door open. He finds Shinobu kneeling on the floor on the other side, a mixture of happiness and understanding on her sweet, beautiful face. The brown haired man bites his lip nervously, knowing that he needs to nip this before it becomes something it shouldn't. "I love you and all of the other girls," he says. "But I'm only _in love_ with one. That's why what happened last night _has_ to be a onetime deal."

Shinobu's face falls slightly before nodding in understanding. She gives him a loving smile as a small tear runs down her face. "I know, and I understand."

Keitaro smiles and offers his hand to her, which she readily takes. He squeezes it lovingly. The cook and the manager have a tender moment, sitting in silence just enjoying each other's company. After a minute or two, a worried look crosses the blue haired girl's face and she pulls away.

"Did you tell her?"

Keitaro blurts out the answer immediately. "No!" Feeling a little panicked over the prospect, he takes a breath to calm his nerves. "No, I didn't, and I don't really plan to." He leaves off the part that he fears for Shinobu's safety if Naru ever found out.

"Oh, ok," replies the blue haired cook, obviously relieved to hear that. "The way she was acting this morning, I thought maybe she knew already."

Keitaro purses his lips in thought, then gives the woman a reassuring smile. "I'm sure everything will be ok." Internally, he is now worried. His wife could sleep through a freight train running through their room, but he conceded that it was not outside the realm of possibility that she had been awake during their little dalliance. However, the mere fact that Naru did not get up and rage like a demon from hell gives credence to the idea that she was dead to the world before he woke her up.

"Refresh my memory, when are you leaving for your next dig?" asks Shinobu.

"Tomorrow morning," replies Keitaro.

Shinobu glances away and bites her lower lip nervously, then looks back to him. "I would like to make something special for dinner tonight. Would you go to the market with me after you finish getting cleaned up?"

"You realize that I am only going to be gone for two months this time, right?"

"Yeah, but still…." she replies, then pauses for a moment. "After last night, I want to make sure this meal is extra special for you."

Keitaro cannot help but smile at the sentiment. Between all of the girls that lived at the Hinata Sou, Shinobu was one of the least violent when it came to his intrusions into the girl's privacy, accidental as they were. The only one who was less violent than even the blue haired maiden in front of him was Mutsumi, and he absent-mindedly wondered if that girl could ever get angry. Had Shinobu been a couple of years older when they met, might she have taken Naru's place in his heart, despite the antennae haired woman's status as his Promise Girl? He certainly could not discount the notion. But that was idle speculation and fantasies. When they'd met she was barely a teenager, and he was definitely not a lolicon

"Sorry, I can't," replies Keitaro. "I have some chores to do around here before I leave."

The blue haired girl nods, stands up and picks up her basket, then heads back down the hall in the opposite direction. Keitaro watches her as she leaves, trying very hard not to notice her very short and very tight miniskirt that leaves nothing to the imagination. When she is out of sight, he readjusts himself so that he was not hanging in the wind like before, steps out of the bathroom, and hurries back to his room. As he enters, he starts to think about what Shinobu had said about the way Naru had been acting this morning.

XXX

As Shinobu reaches the bottom of the Hinata Sou's famously long stairs, she sits down and reflects again on her actions the night before. Keitaro's feelings were clear on the matter. The fact that he did not regret what happened made her happy. But at the same time, him feeling guilty about it bothers her. Through her own weakness, she has placed a burden on him. She does not regret it, but perhaps she should?

The very act was a betrayal of a woman that she considered one of her closest and dearest friends. But Keitaro has held a special place in her heart for many years, and nothing can ever change that. To her, it was only fitting that she allowed him to be her first. For a long while, she had been resigned to the idea that her first would be to someone else, the runner-up to her heart. Somehow, the idea of that happening never sat well with the blue haired cook. So she sat in the shadows, passively waiting for an opportunity that would never present itself.

It does not help that her room is so close to theirs, either. It is next to Keitaro's, and his wife's is directly above his. They thought they were being considerate by doing their sleeping and 'other' activities in Naru's room, but she can still hear them. Rather than be offended, she fantasizes. The antennae haired brunette's vocalizations leave little to the imagination, and many a night, Shinobu imagines herself with Keitaro through the wailing of her friend.

Him kissing her passionately, then traveling down to once forbidden areas and pleasuring her womanhood.

Her licking over every inch of his body, then settling down to service his manhood.

Him on top of her, sliding into her…..

Shinobu shakes her head, removes the hand that has somehow made its way between her legs, and chastises herself for indulging in her fantasy. Not so much because of the content, but rather because she was out in public doing it. She lets out a relieved sigh after looking around and seeing that there was no one watching, then looks at her hand and the glistening moisture on her fingertips. Did she regret anything about last night? Unequivocally, the answer is no. Not now or ever, she resolves. Even if it is going to be only the one time, she can be happy with that.

As for Keitaro's guilt, she will do what she can to help him with it. If, in the end, that means confessing to Naru, then that's what will have to happen.

Shinobu stands up and smiles. "When did I become so selfish?" The comment goes unnoticed by anyone except the wind. The question remains unanswered as she gathers up her purse and heads to the train station.

XXX

Unbeknownst to Shinobu, someone was watching. From just inside the Hinata Tea House, Kitsune narrows her nearly closed eyes as she watches the blue haired girl leave through a crack in the front door. So far it has been a slow day, and she was on her way out when she noticed the small woman come down and then sit at the bottom of the stairs. And boy did she get an eyeful.

"Probably thinking about him again," she comments to herself. To say that she is angry about this morning's revelation was an understatement. As the hours passed, she has become more and more so. Leaning over to clean a table for perhaps the tenth time today, she accidentally knocks the sweetener container, sending the packets scattering across the floor.

Kitsune closes her eyes and bites her lip in frustration after muttering an explicative under her breath. She bends down and starts to gather up the wayward packets, but stops. After a moment, she angrily throws them onto the floor again. "It's not fair!" she exclaims. "I love him too, why should she get to be with him when I don't?" The answer to that is obvious. She shouldn't have at all. But was her anger directed at the younger woman, Keitaro, or herself? The brunette told Shinobu earlier that she didn't know the answer to that.

"Why should I be mad at her?" In truth, the blue haired girl had only done what most of the others in the house had fantasized about. Motoko even wrote about it in her book! Could the brunette really be angry at her for doing what she herself would do if she had the courage? As misguided as it is, the answer turns out to be no.

"So what are you going to do about it, Mitsune Konno?" she asks herself as she starts to pick up the packages again. When she finishes, a sly grin comes across her face. She rushes into the back, retrieves some paper, and quickly scribbles a note on it. She then steps through the front door and tapes it to the upper panel after locking it. Shinobu and the rest would be gone for a couple more hours at least. That means that Keitaro is upstairs, all alone, by himself. _The poor man must be lonely._

XXX

Ready to get to work, Keitaro steps out of his room wearing his work overalls, a black t-shirt, and his brown leather work boots. Naru left him a short list of repairs that need to be completed before he leaves for his next dig the following day, including some work in the woman's showers that connected to the hot springs bathing area.

He sighed contentedly, the soothing bath having worked wonders on his aching man parts. It has been a long time since he had done _that_ so many times in the night. It harkened back to some of the all nighters he and his wife had pulled when they first started being intimate. The first time had been just a single magical instant that they both savored, it being the first time for both of them. The following night, Naru seemed to almost be possessed. When the sun finally came up, his balls ached so bad that he went to the clinic. He cringed in embarrassment, recalling the snickers from the doctor and his nurse after finally explaining to them what had really happened.

A low rumble from his stomach broke him out of his thoughts. It was nearly noon now and he had missed breakfast due to sleeping in, so he started down the hall towards the stairs. When he was home, Shinobu usually made him a lunch and left it in the fridge. His mouth watering at the thought of what she may have made for him, he totally misses the water bottle lying strategically on the stairs. When he steps on it, his foot rolls out, causing him to start to fall back. He overcompensates, pitching himself forward and towards the floor of the lower level.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Kitsune appears, and turns to him. Her arms are spread out as if she is trying to catch him. When he lands, his face finds its way between her two massive breasts. As they both start to fall to the ground, Keitaro feels the brunette's arms go around him and pull his head deeper into the pillowey softness of her bosom.

When they finally hit the floor, it almost feels like Kitsune is grinding his head into her chest. "Oh Keitaro, you're such a pervert!" she cries. Immediately, Keitaro recognizes that she had spoken not in the angry tone he was expecting, more of a sultry, seductive, almost inviting tone that immediately sets alarms off in his head. Instinctively, he pushes off of her. As usual, his hands end up cupping her in just the right spot as he does so.

Falling away from her, he scrambles back towards the stairs expecting the worst. However, instead of coming after him in a fury like so many times in the past, she simply sits there with her arms crossed across her chest, a deep blush on her face. Quickly, Keitaro scrambles to his feet and offers a hand to help her up. "I'm so sorry, Kitsune!"

Instead of taking his hand, the fox girl looks up at him and winks. "You know, if you wanted to touch my tits, all you had to do was ask!"

Jerking his hand back, Keitaro covers his nose to block the spurt of blood that is threatening to gush out. He immediately turns on his heels and rushes back up the stairs, straight to his room, slamming the door behind him.

XXX

After spending about thirty minutes in his room hiding and contemplating what had just taken place, Keitaro's hunger finally drives him out. Peaking out his door and seeing no sign of the fox girl, he steps out and heads back towards the stairs. Warily, he steps down to the lower level, the entire time alert for any sort of ambush that might have been set. Seeing none, he quickly rushes to the kitchen and after a minute of searching, retrieves his lunch.

It had been quite a while since he had _that_ kind of accident. Over the years, they had trickled down to almost none, except for a couple of times he accidently on purpose ran into Naru. Likewise, the beatings from his wife all but disappeared. Now when something like that happens, she merely chases him around until they were alone and could do other things, rather than send him to the next town via her right hook.

Deciding it is safe, Keitaro finishes off his sandwich and takes a look at the list of things he needed to do. First on the agenda is the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. He noted a couple of days ago that it was constantly running, so he puts his dishes in the sink, grabs his tools, and heads upstairs. On approach, the dark haired man noted that, while the light is on, the door is open as well. Grumbling to himself about the electricity bill, he opens it and enters, only to find that it was not empty.

Sitting on the toilet, her shorts and panties around her ankles, is Kitsune. Her legs are spread wide, giving the man a complete eyeful of her womanhood. Her right hand is gently massaging the folds surrounding her clit. Frozen in place for a second, only her sultry voice can break him out.

"Oh Keitaro, while you're here, could I get a little help with this?"

It takes a second for what she said to register in his addled mind. But when it does, Keitaro runs away screaming and back to his room where he rushes in and slams the door. "What is going on with her!?" The dark haired man presses the heels of his hands into his forehead as he tries to remove the image from his mind. Admittedly, it was a beautiful and erotic sight. And of course he had a reaction to it.

Keitaro finally tamps down his runaway imagination by picturing his Grandma Hina in a string bikini. Shaking his head to clear it and chalking the incident up to his bad luck again, he pulls out the list and glances at the number two item on the sheet. The dryer vents needed to be cleaned out. If he went and did that now, it would give Kitsune time to 'finish up' so he could circle back and fix the toilet as well.

Slipping out of his room again, he hurriedly heads down the hall to the supply closet and retrieves what he needs. While descending the stairs, he once again ensures there is nothing for him to trip on. With the cleaning brush and its extension coiled around his left shoulder and a wrench to loosen up the clamps on the exhaust pipes, he descends down into the basement where the laundry is located. Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs, Keitaro freezes as he gets another eyeful.

In front of the dryer in nothing more than a white t-shirt that barely fits her is Kitsune. She is bent over in front of one of the dryers, giving the man a perfect view of her apple shaped posterior. The way she holds it up leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. As she stands there, she rotates her hips in a circular pattern that almost seems…..inviting. Keitaro is transfixed once again in place, not meaning to, but staring intently. After a moment, the fox girl seems to notice him and smiles.

"Oh Keitaro! You like what you see? From here, it sure looks like it!"

Indeed, during the short time he has been standing there, there was an involuntary reaction in his groin, which of course she noticed. The tools he is carrying clatter to the floor as he covers himself and disappears back up the stairs. To his room he goes, slamming the door behind him.

XXX

The lobby of the Hinata Sou is the central location where the residents congregate to chat and watch television. Several couches are strategically placed throughout the room to give whoever sits in them a good view of whatever is playing on the screens. Off to the side are several tables and chairs where games can be played to pass the time.

A shadow flits from behind one chair to another. Then a head appears from behind, just enough for the person sneaking around to see over it. Keitaro does not move anything other than his eyes as he scans the area for the Kitsune. Seemingly satisfied she is nowhere to be seen, he quickly crawls across the floor, using the furniture for cover. When he reaches the other side, he lifts up again and takes a quick survey, but sees nothing.

He has reached the hallway that leads to the washroom where the women get ready to enter the Sou's hot springs. On one of the showers, the hot water side has stopped working. As there were only two, this was one of the few critical projects that absolutely have to be completed before he left. Keitaro leans against the wall and worms his way up to a standing position. He then quickly glances around the corner. Seeing no trace of the fox girl, he begins to slide his way down the corridor with his back against the sides.

Upon reaching the entrance to the shower room, he quietly puts the tool bag he has been carrying with him down. Fortunately, the tools that he needed for this job were still in the closet, so he did not need to return to the laundry to fetch the ones that he had left down there. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieves a compact mirror that he took from Naru's nightstand, holds it out into the open door way, and moves it around slightly so that he can get a good look into the room. He breathes a sigh of relief after seeing no trace of the woman who seems to have been stalking him today.

The dark haired man knocks on the open door. "Is anyone in here?" When he gets no response, he breathes out a sigh of relief and enters. The last thing he wants is yet another 'accident' to happen. In the past, they usually resulted in pain and suffering on his part due to punishment from what was the affectionately known as the "Pervert Patrol". These unintended glances were usually just that, unintended.

Quietly, Keitaro approaches the broken shower faucet. After glancing around nervously, he sets his tools down and gets to work. Grasping the hot water handle, he turns it slightly. Nothing comes out, so he rotates it slowly over, with the same result. On closer examination, the dark haired man notes that while the knob turns properly, the screw that holds it in is not. Sighing to himself, he picks out a Phillips screwdriver and inserts it into the slots on the head and turns it to the left.

Immediately, he is drenched. As he scrambles out of the way of the stream of water, he simultaneously curses and thanks his luck, angry that he did such a stupid thing and happy that the water in the pipes was cold. If he had lingered any, he would have been scalded for sure. After a few minutes of struggling, he finally manages to get the faucet turned off. _At least it's an easy fix._ Replacing the faucet handle is a pretty simple procedure, he just needs to head to the hardware store and get a new one.

He tosses the screwdriver back into his bag and then stoops down to grab the handle. Upon standing, he hears a gasp and reflexively turns to see where it came from. Bad idea. On the other side of the shower room, standing at the door that leads out to the hot springs is Kitsune. Standing with her arms crossed under her breasts in order to make them look bigger than then already are (no small feat considering her already above average bust size), she is wearing nothing but a towel and a huge smile. Frozen in place by the sight, a small trickle of blood seeps out of both his nostrils.

Kitsune smirks at the sight, noting that the apartment manager is completely drenched. "Keitaro, you know, you should get out of those wet clothes," she coos seductively before completely removing the one thing that was covering her and offering it to him. "Here, you can use this to dry off."

Upon seeing the fox girl in all her naked glory, Keitaro starts to feel dizzy, due in part to a combination of blood loss and diversion of the life maintaining substance to another part of his body. Desperately, he fights down the feeling and wills himself to make a break for it. He runs past the woman in her birthday suit, back up the stairs and into his room. Upon slamming the door behind him, he makes a dive for the closet and closes that door behind him as well. "Why me?" is the last thing he mutters before passing out.

XXX

The apartment manager is broken from his slumber by a very loud and obnoxious female voice. "Keitaro! Where are you hiding?!" Groggily, he reaches up and slides the door of the closet open slightly, only to see a barely dressed Kitsune standing in the middle of his room, clad in only a half t-shirt that barely covers her huge breasts and a pair on spandex shorts that look more like bikini bottoms. Hoping that she does not see him, he quickly closes the door again and cowers towards the back, trying to make himself disappear in the enclosed space.

_What is with her?! _Again he starts to wonder if there was something going on today that he is not privy to. There was no longer any denying that the events of the day were no accident. If he is correct, Kitsune is now actively pursuing him, just like Shinobu. This has caused him to rethink the last twenty-four hours. Originally, he thought that the previous night's activities with the petite cook were due to her feelings for him. He knew he had feelings for her as well, so after she prodded him, he acquiesced. Now, the fox girl's actions were making him wonder if there was something in the air or water. He knows all the girls have some level feelings for him. He never thought that they were this deep, though.

Much to his chagrin, the closet door opens. Kitsune stands before him and glares. Sheepishly, he smiles as she takes a step back, silently beckoning him to come out. Slowly, he extricates himself from his hiding spot, being careful to avert his eyes from her. Pulling himself up to his feet, he cannot bring himself to look at the woman due to her state of undress.

"Naru has taught you well," she quips. The fox girl then steps up to him and cups his chin in her right hand, the left finding its place on her hip. Gently, he is forced to look into her open brown eyes. "What does it take for a girl to get a little action around here?"

Keitaro shudders. "W-w-what do you mean?"

"I know what happened last night between you and Shinobu. It's my turn."

"I-I-I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about!" he lies, trying to sound resolute.

"Okay, we're not playing this game," replies the fox girl as she pinches her nose and shakes her head. "Let me refresh your memory; you and Shinobu had sex last night, in Naru's bedroom, with her lying asleep next to you." Kitsune glares at him menacingly, then knocks on his head as if it were a door. "Any of that ring a bell?"

Looking away from the accusing eyes of the woman in front of him, Keitaro realizes he is busted. He has mentally prepared himself for what might happen if this were discovered. In fact, he fully expected it to be uncovered eventually. Just not so soon. "How did you find out?" He swallows nervously, hoping not to hear that Shinobu had blabbed it out to anyone who would listen.

"I figured it out," replies the brunette. "It might as well have been written on her face in big bright blue neon letters."

The apartment manager sighs. "So what happens now?" he asks quietly.

Returning her hand to his chin, Kitsune again redirects his view to her. She smiles sheepishly at him. "You know, Shinobu isn't the only one around here who has feelings for you."

The dark haired man nods his head dumbly, knowing that to be the truth.

Dropping her hands from his face, the brunette turns away from him. "You know, this is really hard for me," she says with a slight shudder in her voice. "I treasure both you and Naru. But over the last couple of years, I've been just so….so… jealous of her!" Kitsune turns back to him, a look of longing in her eyes. "I love you! I have for some time!" Tears burst forth from both eyes as she starts to sob uncontrollably.

Keitaro steps forward and puts his arms around her. She responds by burying her face into his chest. "And what does it say about me!" she continues. "My best friend's husband cheats on her, and all I can think of now is that I might get my own chance with him!" As she rants, Kitsune slams her fist into the dark haired man's chest three times, hard enough to slightly knock the breath out of him.

Despite the abuse, Keitaro holds the distraught woman. They stand like this for a couple of minutes. Kitsune, having spent all her energy, finally steps back and looks at him expectedly. "So, I ask again, what does it take?"

The apartment manager cannot believe his own ears. After admitting that her feelings were in the wrong place, she is still persisting. "I'm sorry, Kitsune, it can't happen."

The fox girl's eyes narrow, and a dangerous smile spreads across her face. "Not even if I threaten to tell Naru about last night?"

Keitaro's mouth hangs wide as he tries to process what she said. "Surely you can't be serious?"

"I'm dead serious," replies the brunette woman with a smirk. "And don't call me Shirley!"

_Oh god, she went there!_ Keitaro facepalms, the horrible joke from that airplane movie notwithstanding, the situation has taken a bad turn for him. If he agrees to what she is saying, then the guilt he already feels could very well overwhelm him. He already feels the weight of the single time with Shinobu.

On the flip side, he rolls through the different scenarios of what would befall him if he continues to refuse and she tells, hoping desperately to latch on to something that might change her from this dangerous course. At first nothing comes to mind. Even after professing her love to him, he knows that she would not necessarily care about anything that happened to him. Most of the scenarios left him being broken and alone, which was something she could certainly take advantage of. He needed to find something that the schemer would find unpalatable in order to get out of this.

After a moment, it comes to him. "You're not going to do that."

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because you care too much about….."

"You?" she cries, interrupting him. "I care about you deeply. But I also know that either way, I get my chance at you, so it's a win-win for me!" Kitsune smiles smugly at him, comfortable there is no way out of the trap she has set.

"But, what about Shinobu?"

The brunette blinks at him. "Say what?"

"What about Shinobu?" he repeats. "What do you think will happen to her when Naru finds out about this?"

Kitsune's eyes go wide and her hands involuntarily cover her mouth. "Oh my god, I…I…didn't think about that."

Internally, Keitaro lets out a small cheer while maintaining a serious face as he looks at the woman. As the realization dawns on her, she can only stare back. They both know full well what would happen. He has made a conscious decision to not tell his wife despite the pain it is causing him for that very reason. While he could take the abuse Naru could heap on him, having done so for over a year before they finally discovered that she was his Promise Girl, frail, petite Shinobu could not.

Kitsune sighs heavily, defeated. "You're right," she says quietly. "If Naru kills Shinobu, she will have gotten off easy." The fox girl reaches up and starts pulling at her hair as she turns away from him. "I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"It's ok, Kitsune," says Keitaro, trying to relieve her anguish. "I think all of this needs to be forgotten, and we all need to get back to the way things were."

The fox girl looks back at him and stares for a moment, causing Keitaro to wonder if she agreed with him or not. "You're right," she says after a moment before smiling at him and moving a little closer. "Can I at least get a good, platonic hug from a friend to sooth away my troubles?"

The apartment manager huffs in amusement, then spreads out his arms. The fox girl takes this as an invitation, and moves in, wrapping her arms tightly around his back as he throws his own around her shoulders. They share the embrace for quite some time. As they hold each other, Keitaro feels her hands slowly slide down and cup is ass. He lets out a sudden gasp of surprise as she pulls him forward, grinding her hips in to him. "I can feel you getting hard, though," Kitsune says playfully. "Are you sure it's a no?"

Without a word, the dark haired man released the amorous woman. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turns her around before moving them to the small of her back and beginning to gently push her towards the exit. With her safely in the hallway, he shuts the door before she can turn around. "This isn't over, Suga," she says seductively before the sound of her bare feet on the wooden floor reaches his ears. It fades as he hears her walk away from his room. Finally alone again, Keitaro takes a step back and stares at the closed entryway for a moment before once again passing out.

XXX

An hour later, Shinobu returns. Having been dodging Kitsune all day, the apartment manager is decidedly gun-shy about being alone, he still does not come out of his room until two hours later when Naru finally comes home. He barely gives her time to get changed into more comfortable clothes before he ushers her out the door and to the hardware store.

Upon returning, he completes the repairs that had been interrupted before, keeping his wife close by to keep any new accidents from befalling him. Naru was a little surprised at his insistence that she stay close, but he soothed the antennae haired woman's suspicions by saying that he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before he leaves in the morning.

He successfully completes everything on the list by the time Shinobu calls everyone to dinner. When he and his wife get to the dining room, he realizes the resident cook was not kidding when she said she wanted to make a special meal for him. Spread out before them was salt-broiled mackerel, squid and daikon radish stew, pitan tofu, chawanmushi, and much more. Most everyone arrived at approximately the same time, with the exception of Kitsune. While everyone else was oblivious, Keitaro had his suspicions as to why.

Just when everyone else has decided to eat without her, the tea house manager makes her appearance. Much to his relief, she is wearing much more appropriate clothing than what she had been wearing earlier during his visit to his room. The fox woman was wearing a yellow long sleeve blouse with khaki capri pants. During the meal, Keitaro sneaks glances at her when Naru is not looking, making sure she is not up to anything.

Everything seems fine until the end of the meal when Kitsune catches him looking and gives him a wink and a blows him a kiss. That was his queue to get out of there. The apartment manager compliments and thanks Shinobu for the meal, grabs Naru's hand, and quietly excuses himself and his wife. He totally misses the look of longing from the blue haired cook, or the knowing smirk from the resident schemer. The happy couple spends the remainder of the evening on the roof, looking up at the stars, before retiring for the night. Naru has no intention of sleeping, though. It's payback time.

* * *

A/N: This is not where tis chaptere originally ended. There is another section that made more sense as its own chapter. You will see what I mean. That also means that the next chapter may have an even quicker turn around.


	4. Chapter 4

-04-

Flying low over the landscape, the Japan Airlines seven-forty-seven is on its final approach to Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo. Keitaro, who somehow scored a window seat, watches the scenery roll by. It has been over two months since he was in Japan. Thinking back over the time, he recalls how, on the day he left, he basically slept the whole way overseas, blacking out just as they reached the coast of Japan, and waking up as they were on final approach to Los Angeles International Airport.

Not that he minded. The night before he left, his wife would not allow him to sleep since she did not have school the following day. It was some sort of punishment for him waking her up the previous night. A smile crept up on his face as he remembered some of the activities. He had no problem with it at all.

During his absence from home, Keitaro was helping his longtime friend and mentor, Seta Noriyasu, on a student dig in the southwestern deserts of the United States. Now he was on his way home, not knowing exactly what to expect. The excavation was not supposed to be completed for another two days. There are several things that need to be resolved.

He recalls the reason he had woke his wife up in the first place, and that put him in a more somber mood. He and Shinobu discussed their transgression, and back then it looked like she had agreed that it was the only time it would happen. Looking out the window, he hopes that nothing has changed while he was gone and makes a mental note to catch up with her to ensure everything is squared away.

Something else that needed to be nipped in the bud were Kitsune's sudden advances before he left. The fox girl was ultra aggressive with him the entire day, putting him in a number of compromising positions reminiscent of the times before he and Naru fully admitted their feelings for each other and went to Tokyo University together.

But almost all of this has to wait. When he had spoken to his wife the previous day, she had revealed to him that there were going to be some _very _major changes when he got back. When she refused to go into any additional details, a very real sense of dread overcame him. He fretted over whether or not this meant the antenna haired woman was aware of his dalliance with the petite cook. When he called again later, he got Kitsune, who knew what had happened. All that she would say was that '_he was in a lot of trouble_.' He decided to leave then and there, not telling anyone at the Hinata Sou. He had to get back as quickly as possible to try to minimize the damage as well as smooth things over and protect the petite woman from Naru's wrath.

When he finally makes it on the ground, customs could not get him through fast enough. Visions were running though his head about Naru handing him divorce papers wherein he is forced to leave the Hinata Sou because she won it as part of the settlement.

The train could not get him there fast enough. In his mind's eye, he sees Shinobu's mother and father weeping over the blue haired woman's deathbed after being on the receiving end of one of Naru's famous punches. He is not sure which is worse, the visage of the cook wrapped in bandages after having been beaten to a pulp, or the accusing looks of her parents who of course blame him for what happened.

Shuddering at that image, he finally reaches the long staircase that leads to the main entrance. He cannot ascend fast enough, as he thinks of his future ex-wife finally getting out of prison after several decades with a bad attitude and a fresh set of tattoos, rumored to be replica images of Keitaro in chibi form, each face crossed out to represent the number of men she killed while in the cage. As he reaches the top step, he has a vision of the Hinata Sou exploding in front of him.

Ditching his luggage at the front entrance, Keitaro makes his way inside. It's getting close to dinner time, and it was way too quiet. He decides that does not bode well for him. As he enters the lobby, he hears muffled voices coming from the kitchen, and moves to investigate. Standing just outside the door, he looks in to see several of the long time residents huddled around a bowl, looking into it suspiciously. The apartment manager listens to the women as they chat.

"Su, for being a genius, you suck at cooking." The apartment manager identifies this voice as Motoko's.

Naru's follows the sword maiden's. "That looks like paper mache paste I make with my students!"

"I'm following the directions!" That was Koalla Su. There is a rustling of papers. "See here, it says two half cups of flour!"

"ARGH!" screams Motoko in exasperation. "That's two _AND_ a half cups, not two half cups!"

"Really?" replies the scientist. "Maybe that's why my genetics experiment went crazy on me last week!" This causes Keitaro to shudder. One could barely imagine some of the things she let loose in the Sou.

"Maybe I should cook?"

"No offense, Naru, but your cooking is an affront to the senses." The apartment manager snickers at this. While his wife's cooking passes the flavor test most times, it usually looks completely inedible. He recalls an incident where the blue glop she had produced looked like it was trying to get away from him as it oozed off his plate and onto the table.

"But it tastes good!"

"Yeah, if you can catch it before it runs away!" quips Su, causing a bead of sweat to form on Keitaro's forehead as he tries to stifle a snicker. Apparently the Mol-molian had the same experience he did.

"I can make a watermelon salad!" He identifies that voice as that of Mutsumi Otohime, his and Naru's childhood friend and former on and off resident. She is sometimes considered by the others as his second 'Promise Girl', as she was with him and Naru when they made their promise. In fact, she had purposely lost a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors so that the younger girl could do so.

As he continues to listen, he notes that there is one person that is conspicuously not present. Normally Shinobu keeps a tight reign over the kitchen, only allowing the other residents to cook under her strict supervision. The fact she is not there while the others attempt to cook something does not bode well, he thinks.

As additional worst case scenarios involving his wife and the petite cook fill his head, he fails to notice the approach of some of the other residents until it's too late.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, Keitaro turns and ends up coming face to face with Ema Maeda. The young girl, who is now in high school, is wearing a plain tan t-shirt and blue jean shorts. Since she joined the rest of the girls in living here after his wedding to Naru, she started to blossom, having grown a good six inches and added curves in places that were not there before. Her face, framed in by long locks of dark brown hair, has lost most of the freckles that were their when she arrived.

Standing next to her, with her fists on her waist, is Mei Narusegawa, Naru's younger step-sister. The brown haired girl, with her messy pig tails, blue long sleeve blouse, and denim miniskirt, was usually not far from Ema. They met at his and Naru's wedding, and became fast friends. Mei convinced her parents to allow her to move in to the Hinata six months later, her excuse being that the local high school had better marks than the one in the district they live in. In actuality, she wanted to be with her new friend, in much the same way Naru came to the Hinata to be with Kitsune. They have been inseparable ever since.

The girls stare back intently, waiting for an answer. Much to his chagrin, both eyes of Ema's pet chameleon Leon, who is perched in his usual spot on her shoulder, are also focused squarely on him.

"Um, I'm watching the others cook," he replies nervously, hoping the women in the kitchen do not hear him.

Ema gives him a sideways glance. "Yeah, could be, but it seems awfully suspicious."

Keitaro snorts in amusement. The girl's obsession with conspiracy theories is well known to the residents. One of her favorites is that her recent development was due to some mystical magic of the Hinata Sou. All of the others decided she was just a late bloomer.

The apartment manager turns back to his spying. "I wonder where Shinobu is?" he asks himself, not realizing he said it out loud.

"She's been sick," replies Ema. As Keitaro turns to look at her again, she continues. "It started about a week ago. Throwing up all day, she hasn't been able to eat or do anything. Unfortunately, we have not been able to eat anything either because no one else knows how to cook."

"Did she see a doctor yet?"

"Yeah, yesterday," replies Mei. "When she came back, she said she had the flu and went to her room with the pills he gave her."

Ema lets out a sigh. "I hope she gets over it soon, we're all starving here."

Keitaro smiles, his fears having been allayed somewhat by the young girls. Deciding that it's safe to go in an announce that he is home, he turns towards the door, only to see it open in front of him. "Let me go see if Shinobu is feeling better," says one of the women as she steps out without looking. She immediately turns and slams in to Keitaro, and the pair fall in a tangled heap onto the floor. Ema and Mei sidestep the chaos and look on as the apartment manager attempts to extricate himself from the situation. As he does so, he comes face to face with Kitsune, much to his chagrin. To make matters worse, his left hand is planted firmly on her right breast.

She giggles slightly at him without a drop of malice. In fact, she seems almost happy about it. "Well, hey there, suga!"

"That's not suspicious at all," quips Ema sarcastically. Beside her, Mei giggles.

Naru comes running to the door. "Kitsune, are you….."

Keitaro looks up at his wife as she stares at the situation in front of her. The left side of her face twitches slightly, an indication of the firestorm that is about to erupt. After having lived with the woman for many years how, he knows the signs and braces himself. If she were in any way angry over his affair, he is going to find out now. Being in such a compromising situation with her best friend will not help matters.

What comes next is totally unexpected. "You're home!" she bellows as she glomps onto him, knocking him off of the tea house manager and back down to the floor. He rolls over onto his back to find her kissing everywhere on his face. "I'm so happy you're here! And you're early! Why are you early? Oh who cares, you're home!"

Silently, the apartment manager wonders if his wife is even breathing as she enthusiastically alternates kissing with her exultations about his surprise presence. Finally, she takes a breath, then stands and helps him up. Just as he straightens himself out, she pulls him into a tight hug. "I've missed you so much!"

Smiling at the affection being thrust upon him, he happens to notice Motoko standing the doorway. Koalla Su is behind her, peering over the taller girl's shoulder. The sword maiden is wearing her tradition Kendo uniform, which surprises him some as she has not done so in quite a while. "So why are you home so early, Urashima?"

Behind her, Koalla is wearing dark grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt with the word 'CUTIE' across the front in large bold letters. "Did you bring any bananas?"

Keitaro ignores Su's question. "Well, when I spoke with Naru the other day, she said there were some changes that were going to need to happen. I then spoke with Kitsune who said I was in trouble."

Motoko glances back at the blonde Mol-Molian behind her, then to the other four women in the room. Somehow, Keitaro knows that they are passing some sort of information around by virtue of the looks they are giving each other, but for the life of him he cannot figure it out. Despite the greeting he received and the assurance that Shinobu was ok, relatively speaking, a feeling of dread wells up inside him.

Naru begins pulling on his arm. "Come on, honey, I have something to show you," she says as she leads him back into the lobby and sits him down on the large couch before hurrying off upstairs. Keitaro watches as the others file in behind, every single one of them with big stupid grins on their faces that screams _I know something you don't know!_ Kitsune plops onto the couch next to him, her smile having a slightly evil tint to it.

After a moment, his wife returns and deposits a binder on his lap. Confused, he just looks at it. Across the top it reads 'My First Picture Book', and there are small cherubs all over the cover. The only thing he can think of straight off is that it might be something she had found, but it was in pristine condition, almost as if it were brand new. "I don't understand," he says after finally giving up on the guessing game.

"You will," replies his wife as she opens the first page. Everyone else leans in as Keitaro looks at a grainy black and white picture of … something. There wasn't much to see, quite frankly. The image on the sheet looks vaguely like a cone with its side cut and then spread out on a flat surface. Inside, there was a black area surrounded by a grey and black grainy image that resembles the 'snow' on a television channel that is not tuned in properly.

Not understanding at all, he turns his head to his wife. "What am I looking at?"

She smiles gently, turns the page, and points to a second image. "Look here."

This second image, while similar to the first, has a little more detail. Keitaro leans a little closer and notices a small object in the middle of the darker field, its shape reminding him of a peanut. It's then that he notices words someone had typed below it; 'Nine weeks down, 29 to go!' The apartment manager grabs the book and brings it closer to him so he could get a better look. Finally it dawns on him what he was looking at. "Is this a…..?"

"Yes," replies his wife excitedly.

He puts his finger on the small object in the image. "And this is a…?

"Yes!" screams Naru and glomps onto him. "You're going to be a daddy!"

The air rushes out of his lungs as he simultaneously registers surprise and feels his wife's crushing hug. The rest of the residents close in and embrace the expecting couple, which is the last thing Keitaro remembers before passing out.

XXX

Keitaro wakes up to find an impromptu celebration has erupted, Kitsune having produced several bottles of sake that the adults were currently enjoying. Naru, who obviously is not partaking, stroked his hair lovingly as his head lies in her lap. She looks down into his eyes and smiles. "This isn't a joke, is it? I'm going to be a daddy?" he asks her.

"Yep!" she replies, then leans in conspiratorially and whispers. "It must have happened during those two nights before you left. Whatever possessed you to wake me up that first time?"

The dark haired man bolts out of her lap as if struck by lightning. He gapes at her like the proverbial deer in the headlights. "Erm, well…um….." he stutters, trying to think of a good lie. There was no way he could reveal the real reason now, not with a baby on the way. "You see…" he starts before being interrupted.

Naru throws her arms around him again and squeezes. "Oh shut-up, idiot. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'm just glad it happened!"

Returning her embrace, sighs internally with relief. They share a brief kiss before they are once again iterupted, this time by Mei. "So can I tell mom and dad now, pleeeeeeease?"

Naru lets out a light chuckle. "Of course not! It's my baby, I want to tell them!"

"But I want to!"

Keitaro smiles and gently takes her hand. "Mei, don't you think it's the mother's job to tell her parents they are going to be grandparents?"

The younger Narusegawa hrmphs and crosses her arms across her chest. He can see that she is thinking of digging her heels in on this, but then relents. "Oh, alright," she says finally.

The future father can tell this is not the end of it. "I'll tell you what," he says with a smile. "I'll let you call Grany Hina and tell her, ok?" This causes Naru's sister to visibly brighten, and with an OK and a nod, she skips off to tell Ema what she gets to do.

His wife eyes him carefully, then smiles. "You're too good to everyone here, you know that?"

Keitaro smiles and absently scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. _You have no idea._ A loud rumble emanating from Naru's stomach interrupts the couple. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, you interrupted us as we were trying to start dinner. Su was getting ready to prepare some Molmolian Fire Cake before you interrupted us." She glances over at the blonde haired resident and smiles, then turns back to Keitaro. "Probably a good thing you did, too," she whispers.

"Well, let's see what's in the kitchen," says the dark haired man as he gets up and heads in that direction. When he gets there, he finds that it is in disarray; probably due to the fact Shinobu has been too sick to do any cleaning. The cupboards are almost completely bare, most likely due to the same reason. Just as he is about to give up, he locates some chicken. Using that plus some of the left over vegetables, the baking knowledge he acquired from working in his parent's bakery, combined with something he learned on one of his several trips to the United States, he makes a pot pie. At first the residents are all skeptical about the creation, but they are too famished to pass it up. Upon first bite, they all hail it as the best thing they have eaten since the bluenette cook got sick, which was saying something because he was not all that fond of the dish himself.

After the meal, additional alcoholic drinks are passed around to everyone except Naru and the underage girls. Motoko regales everyone with a story she wrote about a brave sword maiden sent on a lonely quest to retrieve her family sword from the clutches of a dragon. It includes a number of characters that were easily recognizable as residents of the Hinata, including a seemingly useless man whom the maiden falls in love with and bears a striking resemblance to Keitaro.

As the festivities wind down, Naru sends Mei and Ema to bed, then excuses herself as well since she has to work in the morning. Keitaro jumps up and is about to escort her when she shoos him off. "I'm with child, not an invalid!"

The admonishment stings, but strikes home. Things will be relatively normal still for the next couple of weeks at least, he tells himself. So there is nothing to really worry about. He kisses her good night and lets her know he would be up in a few minutes. A wink and a smile from Naru tells him she will be waiting.

Looking back to the lobby, Kitsune is passed out on the couch with Koalla Su lying in her lap, a line of drool flowing from her open mouth and onto her makeshift pillow. Smiling at the scene, he turns, only to be confronted by the story teller herself.

From the look on her face, he could tell Motoko had a few cups of the sake that Kitsune had produced, just enough to where he can see the redness in her cheeks. Before he can react, she reaches up and cups his cheek in her hand, at the same time reaching in and planting a kiss on his lips. She lingers for a moment before pulling back, her black eyes peering into his. "Congratulations," she says in an almost melancholy voice. She then turns, walks up the stairs, and disappears.

Keitaro stands in place for a few moments, shocked at what just transpired. _That was no ordinary kiss._ Once again he thinks back to the events from the day before he left on his expedition and wonders if there is something causing the other girls to act the way they are because now it seems like Motoko would need to be added to the list. This raises all sorts of questions that he did not have an opportunity to get answered. Setting his mind to it, he heads up to the second floor and stops in from of room 201. After taking a breath, he knocks, but there is no answer.

After knocking a few more times, he becomes worried and gets out his master key. When he opens the door, he finds the room completely dark. Uncharacteristically, it is quite messy, with clothes strewn all over the floor. As he enters, he hears a sob coming from the opposite side. He quickly crosses over and finds Shinobu curled up on her futon, which she had pushed up against the wall instead of leaving it in the middle of the floor like normal. She is wearing blue flannel pajamas and her blue-black hair is a complete mess.

"Shinobu, are you ok?" he asks as he shakes her. She turns to him and he can immediately see that she has been crying. Sniffling, she looks up at him, a fresh tear running down her cheek. "I heard you went to the doctor, are you feeling better?" he asks.

"No, I'm not," she replies, and turns away from him. While not a very astute man, after living with women for over half a decade he can tell when they are hiding something. He usually knows not to ask about it, but this time he feels compelled to.

"Please tell me it isn't about Naru." This is the last thing he needs, a woman that he treasures being jealous of the woman he loves and what they are creating together.

Shinobu's shoulders heave as she lets out a long sigh. "Kind of," she replies, then turns back to him. "Do you love me?"

With that single question, he can see that her feelings for him are genuine. Still, it is not a question to be taken lightly, full of pitfalls and other traps. He looks into her eyes and can see that she is very near to once again breaking down as she waits for his answer. "You know the answer to that," is his reply, hoping to deflect the question.

"I want you to say it."

Internally, the apartment manager cringes as his one and only gambit to avoid this goes up in smoke. "We already discussed this months ago. I love all of the women here." He reaches down and places a comforting hand on Shinobu's cheek. She in turn leans into it and places one of her hands over his. "But I am in love with only one."

"But what if things changed?" Her voice cracks as she squeaks out that last bit.

"I don't see how they could at this point," he replies. After a pause, he admits something to her that he would never do for any of the other girls in the Hinata Sou, a concession that he hopes will break her out of whatever despondency she is in. "But, I would come to you if ever I needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to hold my hand." He takes a deep breath. He knows the second part of the answer she was looking for, and it does not necessarily surprise him that he is comfortable in saying it. "If anything ever happened to Naru, I would come to you."

Shinobu's face brightens. She sits up and throws her arms around his back, crashing into him and hugging him tightly. He can tell that she is relieved to hear these words. Even though they are all he can give her, she seems satisfied with them. As she snuggles into his chest, he strokes her hair. "Hey, everything is going to be alright."

"Are you sure?" asks the blue haired woman as she pushes away, looking deeply into his eyes.

"Absolutely, why do you ask?"

Shinobu takes a deep breath. "Because I'm pregnant."

* * *

A/N - Well, Keitaro has gotten himself into a huge pickle, eh? So we shall have to see how he deals with two hormonal women! And as I said, this came out quicker than normal because it was basically already written. I just fleshed it out a little more.


End file.
